Meanie's produce co-op people had bushels of peaches. (Millions of peaches, peaches for me!!) and we went in on it together to make some PEACHY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!! And for those of you who don't know, a bushel of peaches equals 32 pounds. That's a butt load of peaches.
Look at the pretty peaches. Hello peaches, I can't wait to cook you up and then spread you on toast...you are going to be sooooooooo tasty.
To peel the peaches, you have to score the bottoms and then boil them for a couple of minutes, like so....
Then, put them in an ice bath. See the scores....and some steam emitting off the peaches.
Grab a knife, and peal away starting from the scored part. They are slippery little suckers (name that movie), and they can be little balls of FIRE pending on boiling water/cold water time ratios, so be careful!!
After they are peeled, cut away an nasties, and remove the pits. Put them in some sort of vessel for safe keeping.
Peaches cut up and slightly mushy. Seriously, the squeezing of the peeled peaches was gross yet nice. Slimy but firm.
Look at that beauteous peach...all bright and shiny...
Meanie and I made canned some peach segments... here they are, pre-canning.
Now, lets start jamming... 10 cups of peaches. Doesn't that look good already??
Then we added 1 packet of low sugar pectin, 1c sugar, 1/4 c lemon juice, and 1/2c water.
And we mashed, mashed, mashed.
Pretty.....
I think next time, immersion blender to get a better texture with smaller lumps...
After it starts to boil, there will be some scummy stuff on top...skim the scum.
**What wasn't photographed was the jam turning into Mt. Vesuvius and burning the hell out of me and Meanie. I got a good splatter on my ring and pinkie fingers at one point...and they burned the rest of the night. Meanie got her arm caught over a burst. So watch out...hot jam burns like a motherfucker. That is my public service announcement for the day.**
We added the finished jam to jars and processed for 5 mins.
Here's the finished product, the fruits of our labor, if you will. One bushel of peaches yielded: 17 1/2 pints of jam, 10 pints of jam, and 9 pints of straight up peaches.
Doesn't it look yum and pretty??? In the front are pints of jam, then 1/2 pints, then segments. We totally rocked out in 4 hours of peaching.
We only had one casualty, lost a jar of peaches when it shattered in the boiling water...bits and chunks of peaches floating everywhere. It was very, very sad. Meanie and I were still talking about it the next day.
Rock out in jam!!
THE RECIPES....
Peach Jam:
10C Peaches, peeled and pitted
1C sugar (regular recipe calls for 5, but these peaches were super sweet and who wants to eat a crap load of sugar with their jam??)
1 envelope of pectin
1/4C lemon juice
1/2C water
In a big pot: toss in peaches, mix sugar and pectin together before adding it into the pot to prevent pectin lumps, water and lemon juice. Cook on medium heat and mash, and mash, and mash...or use your handy dandy immersion blender to make smoother... Bring to a slow boil (watch out for Vesuvius)...and skim the scum. This whole cooking process should be about 45 minutes.
Put in sterilized jars, and boil for 5-10 min. Take out and let them cool to room temp...and wait for the sealing popping sounds. It's exciting.
Canned Peaches:
Peel and segment desired amount of peaches
Simple Syrup (2C sugar and 6C water, boil. This is a light syrup, there are heavier ones out there if you need a crazy amount of sugar)
Put the segments into jars, add simple syrup. Run a knife or spatula along the perimeter of the jars to get rid of extra air bubbles (they are not your friend). Seal and process for 20 mins.
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